The Sun today picks up on our ‘Are you Gordon Brown?’ campaign for Save the Children, as previously posted about here. Not huge visibility for Save the Children in the article but I guess it all helps. (Though the death penalty headline is as random as they come.) Visit the ‘Are you Gordon?’ website, created by Wieden + Kennedy to highlight the issue of free children’s healthcare in Africa on behalf of the Save the Children… here.

The new biz machine grinds on. Nokia global pitch is still going – down to us, JWT and Mother for lead creative and strategic agency – meanwhile, we’re also pitching for the Ikea UK business. The Ikea pitch is in just over a week, so pressure mounts as the team meets daily to review ideas, debate strategies and eat Swedish sweeties.

So why is she wearing this strange yet alluring outfit? She’s been Burlesque performing for the past 4 months and is a regular at Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club. She performed in the Newcomers Showcase for the London Burlesque Festival at Neighbourhood in Notting Hill a few weeks ago and you can see footage of Kate in action at that event in the flesh (so to speak) here. She’s the one at the end in the space girl costume. Though by the very end of the performance the space girl costume has been discarded.

She is also a finalist in the Tournament of Tease in July. And her myspace, complete with slideshow, is here. http://www.myspace.com/agentlynch

This may cause you to view account handling in a whole new light.

Phew! Managed to get through that whole post without any double entendres.

Dinner last night with the agency’s founders, David Kennedy and Dan Wieden at a swanky place in Mayfair. As Dan said, ‘This is the kinda place you need a coat.’ The two of them are over to give this evening’s President’s Lecture at D&AD. This was the first time I had met David Kennedy, who is pretty much retired now, and after a while we were able to get the two of them talking about The Old Days of Wieden + Kennedy. There were some great stories.

Tony Davidson (London CD) and David K.

Kim Papworth and Tony listen as the anecdotes are recounted.

There was the story of Alexis, the Greek restaurant by the agency in Portland where they always used to go. Dan was known to the staff as ‘Scotch and squid’ and Dave was called ‘Scotch and sheep’ because of the consistency with which they ordered the same dish and drink.

There was the tale of the time that Ken Kesey, counter-culture hero, author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and notorious instigator of the ‘acid test’ parties, attended a W+K party and left shaking his head, saying, ‘You guys could teach the hell’s angels how to party.’

Then there were stories of topless fire dancing, throwing ice sculptures off roofs, David telling us, ‘I used to be a marine; I know how to handle guns’, and Dan explaining how it came to happen that on the occasion he finally got to meet a hero of his, George Plimpton, he (Dan) was in full drag with makeup and a wig on.

Every few months, Metro select "ads from
the paper that stand out from the rest". Apparently they look for
"innovative creative that successfully communicates with our urbanite
audience". Our own resident urbanites, Mark and Richard, were this
month’s recipients for their Lunchtime Revolution campaign for Pizza
Hut. Pictured with Mark and Rich enjoying the spoils in a classic
"it’s Friday afternoon in an ad agency, it must be champagne time"
moment, are Jo (who seamlessly produced the campaign), David (who
account managed it all smoothly) and Rebecca (who’s never far when
there’s champagne around).